Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-03-24


tue drawn by Lee, which she knew was hi:
own portrait Suddenly she started
aBut John will DO here soon; what are we
to tell hima And then that package and that
letter.
@Don't be in hurry to tell him anything
at present. my child,n said Mrs. Scott gently.
1T is unfortunate this Mr.. Thompson called
here, but we are not obliged to understand
what he says now about Johns message, or
TO connect our visitors with his story. I'm
sure, Kate, l should have treated them ex-
actly as we did if they had come without any
message from John; so do not know why
we should lay any stress on that, or even
speak of it. The simple fact is that we have
opened our house to two strangers in distress.
Your husband" continued Mr.. Hale's
mothcr-in-law, docs not require to know
more. As to the letter and package, we will
keep that for further consideration. 1t can
not be of much importance or they would
have spoken of it before; it is probably some
trihing present as a return for your hospital
ity. l should use no INDIGENOUS haste in hav-
ing it opened
The two women kissed Mrs. Scott with a
feeling of relief, and fell back into the
monotony of their household duties. 1t is to
be feared, however, that the absence of their
outlawed guests was nearly as dangerous as
their presence in the opportunity it afforded
for uninterrupted and imaginative reflection.
Both Kate and Josephine were at first
shocked and wounded by the discovery of the
real character of the two men with whom
they had associated SO Familiarity, but it was
no disparagement to their sense of propriety
to say that the shock did not last long, and
vas accompanied with the fascination of dan
ger. This was succeeded by q consciousness of
the delicate flattery implied in their indirect
influence over the men who had undoubtedly
rislSed their lives for the sake of remaining
with them. The best woman is not above
being touched by the effect of her power
over the worst man, and Kate at first allowed
herself to think of Falkner in that light.
But. If in her later reflections he suffered
as a heroic experience to be forgotten, he
gained something as an actual man to be re-
membered. Now that tho proposed rides
from "his friends house" were part of the
illusion, would he ever dare to visit them
again? Would she dare to see him7 She held
her breath with sudden pain of parting that
was new to her; she tried to think of some
thing else, to pick up the scattered threads of
her life before that eventful day. But in
vain; that one week had filed the place with
implacable memories, or more terrible, as it
seemed TO her and her sister, they had both
lost their feeble, alien hold upon Eagles
Court in the sudden presence of the real genii
OF these solitudes, and henceforth they alone
would be strangers there. They scarcely
dared to confess it to each other, but this re-
turn to the dazzling sunlight and cloudless
skies Of the past appeared to them to be one
unreal experience; they had never known the
true wild flavor of their home except in that
week of delicious isolation. Without breath
ing it aloud, they longed for some vague de-
nouement to this experience that should take
them from Eagles Court forever.
1t was noon the next day when the little
household beheld the last shred of their illu-
sion vanish like the melting snow i'll the
strong sunlight Of John Hales return. He
was accompanied by Col. Clinch and Raw
Inns, two strangers to the women. Was it
fancy or the avenging spirit of their absent
companions? But he, too, looked stranger,
and as the little cavalcade wound its way up
the slope he appeared to sit his horse and
wear his hat with a certain SLOUGH and
absence of his usual restraint that strangely
shocked them Even the old half-condescend-
ing, half-punctilious gallantry of his greeting
of his wife and family was changed, as he
introduced his companions with a mingling
of familiarity and shyness that was new to
him. Did Mrs. Hale regret it, or feel a sense
of relief in the absence of his usual seignorial
formalty! She only knew that she was
grateful for the presence of the strangers,
which for the moment postponed matrimo-
uial confidence from which she shrunk.
proud to know YOU" said Col. Clinch,
with a sudden outbreak of the antique gal
lantry of some remote Huguenot ancestor
"Mv friend, Judge Hale, must be regular
Roman citizen to leave such family and
such house at tho call of public duty. Eth,
Rawlinsr